German biotechnology company BioNTech and U.S. company Pfizer have submitted a request to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the approval of an extension of their COVID-19 vaccine use in adolescents aged 12 to 15, the two companies announced on Friday.
The submission was based on data from a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial among 2,260 participants aged 12 to 15 years. The two companies said in a statement that the vaccine "was generally well tolerated" in the trial.
In Germany, COVID-19 vaccination with the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine for children and adolescents could start as early as September. "I think it is possible," Thomas Mertens, chairman of the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO), told Rheinische Post on Friday.
Germany's COVID-19 vaccination picked up recently. On Wednesday, more than one million vaccinations were administered, making it a new daily record. Almost 6.4 million people in Germany had been fully vaccinated as of Thursday, bringing the country's vaccination rate to 7.7 percent, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
Daily COVID-19 infections in Germany have stopped rising sharply but remained on a high level as 24,329 new cases were registered on Friday, around 3,200 fewer than one week ago, according to the RKI.
To date, Germany has recorded more than 3.38 million infections and 82,850 deaths, showed the RKI data.
